Especially if you ban the books from the high school library, but not the local library from which students can check out with only slightly more effort.
I think, though, the forbidden fruit effect only works if the book in question is sufficiently well-known. There was an article a while back about a "concerned parent" trying to get a children's book about gay marriage removed from her local library - if she'd succeeded, I doubt there would have been children clamoring for the book in the area - they'd never know it existed, it would be hard to find for the parents, and possibly too expensive for some, etc.
That's another thing that gets me about banning books in libraries. It's a classist thing, because the well-off can always spend their free time looking for books and their money ordering them off Amazon or what-have-you - a single parent working two jobs doesn't have the time or the money to make that happen. Libraries should be equalizers, and intentionally removing books from them creates inequality. Like so many political
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Well, again, I think it's a question of a public fight to remove a book, versus a quiet move to ban it. If highschoolers become aware that there's an awesome book they're not allowed to read, they might invest effort in finding it - but that's the year it's banned, maybe a couple years after. In years to come, 4-year-old or 14-year-old, they might never find out the book existed and thus not even have the chance for a rebellious impulse. After all, if we can get away with making kids swear fealty to a symbolic piece of cloth, there's a lot they'll do without asking questions just because that's how it is.
Indeed, joy. It's a different animal talking about school vs public libraries, so it's less a bugaboo for me, but... gack. Information may not want to be free, but it should have the lowest possible cost of entry.
I think the appropriate question is the one you posed - what should school libraries be spending their funds on? - but you hit the nail on the head. That doesn't provide sound bites.
And even then, I...well, I might not LIKE a school library stocking lots of Twilight, but if it gets teens to actually read? Go for it. I knew a lot of kids in school who wouldn't go near the local library, but would take books out of the school library because it was more convenient.
*nod* A lot comes down to what you believe the purpose of the school library to be and how to best serve it, which, as I said, much bigger discussion. I'm usually of the opinion that it's better to get a kid hooked on reading a mediocre book and having fun with reading than to force them to read The Canon and associate reading with pain and confusion and work.
But... Twilight... I hate to judge a book without reading it, but nearly every time I hear an authority on craft speak about the thing, it's negatively. There have to be better ways to get kids to read.
Twilight hurts me deep inside, much like Da Vinci Code does (slightly less, but still), but at the same time...were Choose Your Own Adventure books that much better? They got kids into reading. I'll take what I can get.
I will always have a soft spot in my heart for interactive fiction. I'll admit so many of them were drivel, and perhaps poorly written, but I think far fewer of them held up abusive relationships based on smelling like delicious, delicious food as ideal to boot. Most of the ones I remember involve escaping aliens or surviving rugged terrain.
Now I want to write an anti-Twilight CYA and put it on the web with hyperlinks.
A sparkling pale prettyboy with cold stone skin tells you you smell like his favorite meal and he sometimes watches you sleep without your knowing...
Do you:
A) Run like hell B) Call the cops C) KILL IT WITH FIRE D) All of the above E) Begin a self-destructive spiral with a creepy stalkerboy.
I'd be hesitant to put the DIY bomb- or drug making books in the school libraries. Ambivalency here, though; is is better that the 0.01% (or so) that wants to make their own bombs use crappy recipies from the Internet, or from a good book?
This is really the other angle on this - the kids that want to use that information can get access to it if they expend minimal effort. I got my recipes for such things off the 'net back in the early 90s, I'm sure there are much better instructions out there now. And, again, I read the Anarchist Cookbook recreationally when I was 14 - nothing came of it.
I certainly wouldn't choose to spend the HS library funds on those sort of books, but I don't know that I'd move to ban them formally either.
What a great post & thread! Thank you! I wouldn't ban any books, because a) forbidding anything gives it a mystique and an appeal, c) those students who are interested can get hold of it from other libraries, Barnes & Noble, or the Internet, d) who gets to decide what is banned? All topics covered in previous replies. Also, historically speaking, when people ban books - or even worse, burn them - there is all kinds of social, political and/or religious trouble on the horizon. Just say no to banning books.
And on another note: spot on with Twilight! Not to mention that it is immature wish-fulfillment that doesn't actually involve character development, only character transformations. But I still am glad I read them: teaching students who really care about books is great, even if said books are drivel. So it helps to have read the drivel. I can always smack them up the head with Lord of The Rings in Polish (which is thicker than the other language versions - probably to accommodate those consonants)...
Thank you! Of all the arguments, I tend to focus on d) because it's the most practical. Regardless of whether you think banning a book can suppress the knowledge, the simple fact is that you might not be the only one with an agenda, and you might not always be the only one with the power to make it happen. It's something I wish would come up more in American politics - you may really want to give this President or this congressional majority X power, but, hell, stop and think what your worst political enemies could do, given the same power. If that world is terrifying, stop, because eventually, they just might be in that position.
I feel bad about badmouthing the book, never having read it... but literally every review I've seen by a person with an opinion I could trust indicates that the actual craft of Twilight is poor, regardless how you feel about the subject matter/characters. Some day, I may work up the masochism to get it from the library and see for myself. For now, I just figure the headaches wouldn't be worth it
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[How have people not noticed that attempting to ban books makes them popular and appealing as forbidden fruit?]
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I think, though, the forbidden fruit effect only works if the book in question is sufficiently well-known. There was an article a while back about a "concerned parent" trying to get a children's book about gay marriage removed from her local library - if she'd succeeded, I doubt there would have been children clamoring for the book in the area - they'd never know it existed, it would be hard to find for the parents, and possibly too expensive for some, etc.
That's another thing that gets me about banning books in libraries. It's a classist thing, because the well-off can always spend their free time looking for books and their money ordering them off Amazon or what-have-you - a single parent working two jobs doesn't have the time or the money to make that happen. Libraries should be equalizers, and intentionally removing books from them creates inequality. Like so many political ( ... )
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And it is. All around, a bad plan.
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I think the appropriate question is the one you posed - what should school libraries be spending their funds on? - but you hit the nail on the head. That doesn't provide sound bites.
And even then, I...well, I might not LIKE a school library stocking lots of Twilight, but if it gets teens to actually read? Go for it. I knew a lot of kids in school who wouldn't go near the local library, but would take books out of the school library because it was more convenient.
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But... Twilight... I hate to judge a book without reading it, but nearly every time I hear an authority on craft speak about the thing, it's negatively. There have to be better ways to get kids to read.
Reply
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Now I want to write an anti-Twilight CYA and put it on the web with hyperlinks.
A sparkling pale prettyboy with cold stone skin tells you you smell like his favorite meal and he sometimes watches you sleep without your knowing...
Do you:
A) Run like hell
B) Call the cops
C) KILL IT WITH FIRE
D) All of the above
E) Begin a self-destructive spiral with a creepy stalkerboy.
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I certainly wouldn't choose to spend the HS library funds on those sort of books, but I don't know that I'd move to ban them formally either.
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And on another note: spot on with Twilight! Not to mention that it is immature wish-fulfillment that doesn't actually involve character development, only character transformations. But I still am glad I read them: teaching students who really care about books is great, even if said books are drivel. So it helps to have read the drivel. I can always smack them up the head with Lord of The Rings in Polish (which is thicker than the other language versions - probably to accommodate those consonants)...
Reply
I feel bad about badmouthing the book, never having read it... but literally every review I've seen by a person with an opinion I could trust indicates that the actual craft of Twilight is poor, regardless how you feel about the subject matter/characters. Some day, I may work up the masochism to get it from the library and see for myself. For now, I just figure the headaches wouldn't be worth it ( ... )
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